Life Sciences Commons^™

Soil Temperature Under A Dormant Bermudagrass Mulch: Simulation And Measurement, Simon Van Donk, Ernest W. Tollner, Jean Steiner, Steven Evett

West Central Research and Extension Center, North Platte

The ENergy and WATer BALance (ENWATBAL) model is a mechanistic, numerical model that simulates soil water and temperature profiles, evaporation from soil, and transpiration from crops, but it does not simulate the effects of a mulch layer. Surface vegetative mulches are becoming more common, especially in reduced -tillage systems, limiting the model’s applicability. Our objective was to modify ENWATBAL to enable physically based simulation of the effects of a dense mulch. As a preliminary evaluation of the model, soil temperatures simulated with the modified model were compared with those measured at Watkinsville, Georgia, in Cecil sandy loam ( …